KENNEWICK — Cid, the Boston terrier, is anything but vicious.
The 10-year-old service dog is dressed in a bright pink USA Service Dog Registry vest.
The quiet pet helps Sharee McKenzie deal with her anxiety, helping her to need less medication.
On Thursday, McKenzie, her husband and Cid had borrowed a relative’s car to run errands and dropped it off at the Walmart parking lot off Road 68, planning to catch a bus home.
They were waiting on Burden Boulevard when Sharee saw a bus arriving on the other side, and they crossed the street to board it.
The transit driver scolded them from running across the street and said he didn’t have to let them on, though he did. “He just had an attitude to begin with,” Sharee McKenzie said.
They already had paid when the driver began to challenge them about Cid, though he was wearing his vest.
“Then he proceeds to ask me, ‘What do I have him for? What’s my disability?'” she said. “That’s humiliating. There are other people on the bus.”
When McKenzie balked at telling the driver, he refused to pull away, and insisted that he needed to know for her safety.
“I’m like, ‘No you don’t, and I’m riding with my husband, anyway,'” she said.
When her husband challenged the driver, saying they didn’t need to tell him, “he pulls over the bus and tells us to get off,” McKenzie said.
They demanded to see a supervisor but after several minutes they left and walked through the heat of the day to Road 100 to catch a ride from a friend The heat took its toll on Cid, who was sick for the rest of the night, she said.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act allows agencies to ask if a dog is a service dog, if it’s not readily apparent. Service dogs are not required to wear a vest and handlers do not have to show identification.
“There is no such thing as a universally or legally recognized certification, registration or training standards for service dogs — or trainers,” according to the online service and working dog magazine, Anything Pawsable.
While federal law is vague, Ben Franklin Transit’s rules are not, said spokeswoman Michele Casey. Drivers are trained not to ask about a person’s disability if they have a service dog. But handlers must keep their dogs under control.
“We’re welcoming to service dogs. We train our drivers to welcome them,” she said. “If we need to remind drivers, we will.”
McKenzie filed a complaint with the transit agency, and officials are investigating it, Casey said.
“We got back with the rider right away,” she said. “We are following up with our driver to understand what his side of the story is.”
For now, McKenzie is hoping the agency’s drivers receive more training on the issue.
